About us

Our Formation Story

Apurva Mahila Samajik Sanstha (AMSS) was founded in 2004 as a Public Charitable Trust to eliminate discrimination and promote social justice with specific reference to the field of health, livelihood, human development, gender equality, and human rights.
 
The organization was envisioned by a group of women from the community who were keen to empower underprivileged populations such as scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, and women engaged in domestic work and commercial sex work in Thane district, Maharashtra. Apurva Mahila Samajik Sanstha believes that women are an integral part of the social development process. They play different roles within the family to strengthen the care economy and contributed equally to the economic growth and social development of the nation.
 
However, during our engagement, we found that socio–the economic dependence of women led to different types of discrimination. And these discriminations are protected and promoted by the patriarchal mindset of society that prevents women from participating in different layers of society. We as a women-centric organization started questioning these gender-discriminatory patriarchal values.  Further, we worked deeply to enhance the self-esteem and self-confidence of women by developing their ability to think critically and fostering decision-making and action through a collective process.  However through increased participation, the women’s organization is building a positive image of women by recognizing their contribution to society.

AMSS Today

In the last 20 years, AMSS has strengthened its core competencies to engage effectively with the marginalized community. The organization started organizing marginalized women across caste and religious backgrounds and focused effectively on skill building, and helping them to develop their ability to think critically and make informed choices in areas like education, employment, and health. The leadership ability developed by the women’s group has been ensuring equal participation in the development processes and provided information, knowledge, and skill for economic independence. In the last two decades, the organization is able to facilitate more than 850 Self Help Groups (SHGs) that ensured financial safety net for marginalized women. Since its inception, the organization strengthened its ability to influence the decision-making process of women by strengthening their capacity to lead, contribute and bring changes in the family and societal settings.

AMSS today has a competent team and strong relations with different networks and organizations across the state and has been able to influence the direction of gender justice by giving voice to the voiceless. Now the organization is effectively designing programs, campaigns, and other initiatives to encourage larger participation of women to change gender-discriminatory social norms.